Deciding between 2 boutique internships

I'm interning at a boutique (20-25 guys) with fairly mundane work (photocopies, coffee, etc.) and it's unpaid, but the MD's are all extremely well connected and I think I have a solid chance at meeting their contacts. I have access to all of their contacts since they keep it on a central excel file, and it includes MDs at every bank, but I figure contacts won't be receptive unless a formal introduction is made which would be done after my internship.

However I might have a chance to jump over to another boutique, paid, and they've already shown me the work I'd be doing and it's actually pertinent work that I could add on my resume. However, it's a 10 man shop and I'm sure they know some guys on the street, but is it worth it jumping ship? I think I might just go insane making constant Starbucks trips for the next 2 months, but it seems like staying at a more reputable, 20 man shop, with contacts would serve me better down the line.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

5 Comments
 

I spent a few months doing "bitch work" and even that wasn't as low as what you're describing. I spent the summer putting together office furniture, small bits of expense reporting, booked flights, and hotels for managers and managed basic IT inventory (At a startup tech biz). I was only asked to get coffee once and I made sure to fuck it up enough so that they would never ask me again. Needless to say I felt like a complete ass talking about that experience in an interview. You can sugar coat it all you want, but these guys know better. Plus, what is your manager going to say? "Oh yeah, he makes good coffee!" Find something worth talking about.

 

If you show you're interested in doing more solid work and not using them just to make contacts at other banks on the street then who knows, maybe they'll give you more meaningful (project) work to do. Loyalty pays off. That being said, if they don't have you doing anything finance related at all, then I would also jump ship to the smaller shop and apply the same work ethic there + gain actual experience.

 
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